Junie B. Jones is starting kindergarten, but she has to use the bus to get there! Junie B. (as she insists on being called) soon finds that she hates the bus and all of its loud sounds, heat, and bad smells. Fearing the bus ride home from school, Junie B. hatches a plan to hide in the classroom to avoid riding the "stupid smelly bus" again. Junie B. does such a good job hiding that when she emerges later she has the school all to herself to explore. She wanders around writing on the chalkboard, drinking water from the fountain, sharpening pencils in the library, and applying Band-Aids as she pretends to be the school nurse.When Junie B. feels the call of nature her play is promptly interrupted as she desperately needs to find a bathroom. Much to her dismay they're all locked, which leads her to recall that in an emergency you should call 911! All ends well as Junie B. makes it to the bathroom in time (thanks to the janitor) and is reunited with her mother who tells her that tomorrow when she rides the bus she can sit next to a girl named Grace who will be riding the bus for the first time.
This book is an early chapter book and would be an appropriate choice for a first, second, or third grader, although it's just as much fun for an adult to share out loud with a much younger child. Junie B. is a character not to be forgotten. Told in the first person, Junie B. speaks and talks like a young child and helps us older readers remember what it was like when we didn't understand our teacher's last name and referred to her as just Mrs.!
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Park, B. (1992). Junie B. Jones and the stupid smelly bus. New York: Random House.
No comments:
Post a Comment